Putting Testimonials to Work, Part I: Print

Capitalize on your biggest fans’ power of persuasion with customer testimonials.

There’s a reason all those infomercials hawking everything from jewelry to fitness equipment use stories direct from customers’ mouths to sell their products. They work. And including testimonials from customers can yield big results for your advertising too.

“Testimonials are a form of proof that what you’re selling really works and works for the average customer,” says David Frey, author of the Small Business Marketing Bible and president of www.MarketingBestPractices.com. “They’re an extremely powerful form of marketing and have a heavy positive influence over a person’s buying decision.”

Customer testimonials may be short and to the point—perhaps just a couple of sentences about the stellar service your customer received—or they may be three or four paragraphs long. Regardless of their length, well-done testimonials lend credibility to your company.

Once you obtain quality testimonials, they can be used in any number of places: print advertisements, direct mail pieces, sales letters, brochures, online video and more. The first step, however, is to glean top-notch comments. Here’s how:

Be on the lookout. “Your business should always be on the lookout for a great customer testimonial,” Frey stresses. “Whenever a customer mentions something positive about your business, you immediately take the opportunity to document the comment and ask them if you can use it in your marketing efforts.” And if customers occasionally send you nice thank-you letters or emails, save those too.

Act quickly. Get testimonials as soon after the completion of a product or sale as you can, when the details are still fresh in customers’ minds and they’re likely to be excited about the experience.

Look for quality. You may already have comment cards or a place where customers can leave feedback online, but typically such input isn’t detailed enough for use in a testimonial. You want comments that go beyond “excellent food” or “friendly service.” Instead, treat such input as a lead to follow-up on.

Find the right customers. The customers you choose to provide testimonials will depend on the audience you’re targeting. Once you determine that audience, look for current customers that prospects would relate to.

Ask questions. The best way to obtain quality testimonials is actually to have a conversation with the client, whether it’s in person or on the phone. Brainstorm a list of questions for customers to respond to, making certain that the questions require a detailed response rather than just a “yes” or “no” answer. Then set up an interview. Take notes or, better yet, record the conversation so you can ensure an accurate transcription of your client’s responses.

The more specifics you can obtain from customers the better. If a particular challenge or special situation came into play, ask for details. If they received a product in record time or for a bargain price, ask them to include the actual amount of time it took to arrive or how much it cost.

Edit, edit, edit. No, you don’t want to rephrase what someone has said or put words into a customer’s mouth. But if someone rambles on or takes a while to make a point, it’s OK to clean things up. The goal is to keep the quotes focused, to the point and impactful.

Take care, however, not to edit out comments just because you don’t like them. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable printing the entire testimonial word-for-word, don’t print any of it. It’s OK to throw entire testimonials out too. Not all testimonials are solid gold. In fact, some can be pretty boring or even detrimental to your cause. If the testimonial isn’t going to wow people, don’t use it.

Go for authenticity. Be sure to include credentials with your comments to lend authenticity to your customers’ statements. Testimonials that clearly state who a person is are more persuasive than those that just list a name. Crediting a quote to “John Smith” is one thing; crediting a quote to “John Smith, CEO of X Company,” is quite another.

Get approval first. Whatever you do, don’t use a customer’s comments without his or her approval—it will only hurt you in the long run. Before you even think about throwing a comment into ad copy, have the customer review their words and sign an agreement giving you rights to use them. And while you’re at it, make sure you double-check that you’ve spelled names, titles and any other key information correctly.

Show your gratitude. Call or send a personal note to thank your client for taking the time to help you. After all, if it weren’t for your current customers, you wouldn’t be at the point where you could work on reaching new ones.

Check back next month to read Putting Testimonials to Work Part 2: Online.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...